The Department of Fish and Wildlife said one of several cameras set up in Siskiyou County captured an image in July of what may have been a wolf but that DNA testing on feces collected in the area was inconclusive. The last documented case was OR-7 in 2011.
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LOS ANGELES California wildlife officials believe that a gray wolf has found its way across the border into the state from Oregon, becoming only the second gray wolf to have ventured into California since the 1920s.
“Biologists believe that if the animal photographed on the trail camera is a wolf, then like OR7 in 2011, it is probably an animal that has dispersed from a pack in Oregon”, the CDFW said. The new areas are the result of two radio-collared wolves who have separated from their packs.
“We just happened to luck out and get (a picture of it) on a trail”, Traverso said.
“I think that wolves in California is an inevitability”, said Jordan Traverso, spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It’s possible the animal could be a large dog or coyote. Traverso says the area is U.S. Forest Service and private timberland east of Mount Shasta. Grey wolves can wander hundreds of miles in their search to find new packs, mates and carve out new territories. “The vast majority of Californians are excited to have wolves back”.
Gray wolves are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. “Wolves are proving what scientists have said all along – that California has great habitat for wolves”.
Because of these protections, it’s illegal to harass or kill wolves in California. In 2012 the California Department of Fish and Wildlife convened a citizen stakeholder group to help the agency develop a state wolf plan for California, and the agency is expected to release its draft plan for public comment shortly.
Brandon Fawaz, president of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau, had the opposite response.
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The yet unnamed wolf is being warmly welcomed, with high hopes that California will avoid the kinds of mistakes some states have made.
